How to avoid a shocking global roaming phone bill

Although we often complain about the cost of roaming, we've actually come a long way in lowering the cost of using a New Zealand mobile phone overseas.

It wasn't that long ago mobile companies charged data roaming fees per kilobyte.

Given the high usage of social media these days, it's great news for our wallets that roaming charges have come down.

If you were to have checked Facebook when roaming was first starting and scrolled through your timeline for just 15 minutes, that would've cost you $150. If your browsing included video streams, it would've cost around $1800 for just 15 minutes of viewing.

So what do New Zealand phone companies offer when it comes to roaming? Here's our guide on how to avoid those large roaming bills.

Vodafone offers a plan that gives you the same allowances as what you have on your phone in New Zealand for an extra $5 a day.

As long as you're visiting one of the 70 countries where the deal is offered, you'll be charged a maximum of $5 a day and get the same allowance as what you have on your plan back home. If you get 5GB a month, then you can use that 5GB a month overseas too.

Spark charges for roaming in quite a different way.

They have two on account roaming packs; the first costs $20 and gives you 500MB of data, 200 incoming and 200 outgoing minutes, and 200 texts for seven days.

With the second option, you can pay $15 for 500MB of data to be used across seven days.

2Degrees offers roaming to over 170 countries, but doesn't have any specific plans that groups certain destinations, like other companies do. If you're with 2Degrees, you should check with them about the rates of the country you are visiting.

For prepaid customers there are packs and add-ons available from all of the major mobile companies. They range from $5 to $20, depending on what you want and how long you need it for.

If you're a prepaid customer, then it's worth having a look at what is available through your service provider.

There are other ways to save on your mobile spend that don't involve limiting your roaming charges.

2Degrees offers a spend control service that alerts you when you're reaching you credit or data limit. This is a good way to control your usage if you don't know how much you're using.

It's also worth checking if there's a local company in the country you are visiting that offers cheap prepaid deals. It will mean a temporary number change when you swap out the sim card, but it can save you plenty.

For example, I've used Lebara in the UK. They offered 1000 minutes to any UK number, 1000 minutes to 40 countries around the world, including New Zealand, and 3GB of data, for ₤20. That's around $38.

Countries covered by Vodafone roaming plans*

Anguilla

Argentina

Aruba

Australia

Austria

Barbados

Belgium

Bermuda

Brazil

British Virgin Islands

Bulgaria

Canada

Cayman Islands

Chile

China

Colombia

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Dominica

Ecuador

Estonia

Fiji

France

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Grenada

Hong Kong

Haiti

Hungary

India

Indonesia

Ireland

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Korea South

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macau

Malaysia

Malta

Mexico

Monaco

Montenegro

Montserrat

Nauru

Netherlands

Norway

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Romania

St Kitts & Nevis

St Lucia

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines

Samoa

Saudi Arabia

Serbia

Singapore

Slovenia

South Africa

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Taiwan

Thailand

Tonga

Turks and Caicos Islands

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

Vanuatu

Venezuela

Countries covered by Spark roaming plans*

Argentina

Australia

Brazil

Canada

China

Colombia

Fiji

France

Germany

Hong Kong

Indonesia

Ireland {Republic}

Italy

Japan

Korea South

Macau

Malaysia

Nauru

Papua New Guinea

Philippines

Samoa

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Spain

Taiwan

Thailand

Tonga

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Vanuatu

Venezuela

*Roaming is available at other destinations but cost can vary and be much higher so make sure you check with your phone company before you depart.